Taking a narrative inquiry approach and using poetic forms of representation, this thesis details the journey of a group of international and UK Higher Education students as they developed the skills necessary to become independent learners and engage in a new educational context. In contrast to many studies which take international students as their focus, this study does not isolate one group and thus avoids a deficit approach to an understanding of the international student experience. The narrative inquiry methodology used combines elements of life story, life history, ethnography and autobiography; it is emergent, responsive, blurring genres, boundaries and refusing dichotomous classifications. Using Savin-Baden’s (2004) combined analysis and interpretation approach, stories were created. These were collated into themes which identified connections across the stories, and to the issues identified as the focus of the study. These stories became the basis for a process of poetic transcription/analysis/interpretation where data, reflective notes, field notes and literature were integrated into stanzas which combined the voices of the participants’, the researcher and those of the literature (Byrne, 2015). The students’ narratives revealed an initially differentiated direct entrant experience. These students shared with their continuing peers a novice status in the subject but this was coupled with a novice status in the learning environment. The students had a practical conceptualisation of critical thinking, in that they articulated their understanding of this concept in terms of reading, research, writing and the construction of citation based arguments within their assignment. There was a move from reliance on the tutor as the bestower of knowledge to a collaborative construction of knowledge. The second year of study was characterised by a changing social dynamic that resulted from the joining of the direct entrant students. Thus the second year was about working out who to work with in order to achieve the best outcome. There was interaction between international and UK students. Skills were adapted, refined and shared in multiple communities of practice within a landscape of learning. The students’ learning experience was transformative in terms of their skills development. Poetry makes the representation of data an individual process of making meaning but also transcends the personal, evoking the experience of the participants, making the researcher’s influence explicit and acknowledging the many co-collaborators in its production including the reader. The poems evoke the experiences of a peer-supportive and diverse group of students, illuminating the collaborative nature of their skills development as they share not just subject knowledge but also methods for learning and assessment. Through a focus on a combination of international, UK, second year and direct entrant students, insights are provided into the ways in which this particular diverse group of students negotiated cultural and language differences to develop supportive, inter-cultural communities of practice.

The research examined why students chose to study at an international branch campus (IBC) and how they perceived their experiences’ impact on their employability. The research posed a question which has largely been studied using quantitative measures with a few notable exceptions such as Pyvis and Chapman (2007) who investigated offshore Australian programmes. Because quantitative studies cannot capture the underlying complexities encompassing the cultural system and socio-cultural properties influencing the agential powers exercised by the individual, this research attempts to explain student choices and experiences using the concepts of rates of return to education, signalling/screening and identity in the qualitative tradition from a critical realist perspective. The leitmotif of this thesis is the analytical dualism of structure and agency (Archer, 1995) in which the link between these two was an inevitable part of the narrative explaining how structure constrained and enabled participants who as free agents took responsibility for their destinies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 students from three IBCs. The findings have policy implications for the research indicates that there are significant structural factors at the levels of host and source countries which affect the IBC market. There are also structural factors at the institutional level associated not only with the IBC and parent university but also with the local partner. At the individual level, there are socio-cultural influences which at times shape student choices but at other times, conflict with the individual’s own life project. The research shows that it is important to understand the factors influencing student choices and experiences at the IBC and its parent campus within the wider framework of structure and agency in order to inform sector-wide and institutional internationalisation policies and strategic planning.

Globally, continuing professional development(CPD) is recognized as essential for promoting teacher learning and improving school effectiveness (e.g. Boyle, 2004; Cordingly et al., Gusky, 2000; Powell et al., 2003). Broad attention to CPD exists in many countries. CPD in Saudi Arabia is very much in its infancy and is characterized by an absence of sustained and progessive opportunites. This thesis seeks to invesitgate the development of a CPD programme that was designed by multiple stakeholders (a Steering Group) for newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in Saudi. The study sought a) to gather the perceptions of the Steering Group concerning their experiences in the design of the programme, and b) to track a sample of NQTs as they completed the CPD programme, seeking their views on the programme (content,delivery and organization etc.) and also the percieved impact of the prgramme on both their classroom practice and wider professional life in school. A qualitative approach was adopted in this thesis. The study undertaken in this thesis was designed in two phases. The first phase focused on the views and experiences of the 'Steering Group' who collectively designed the programme. In the first phase, data were gathered through dorect observationof the Steering Group planning meetings, and semi-structured interviews with the Steering Group members after the programme had been developed. The second phase involved the implementation of the CPD programme. Five NQTs attended the CPD sessions. They were observed in the CPD sessions and in their classrooms and interviewed across the implementation period and after each classroom observation. NQTs were also asked to keep a reflective diary to record their experiences. Data were analysed inductively using a constant comparison process. A number of themes emerged. the collaborative design process enables many voices to be heard. Data indicated that while individual Sterring Group members initially sought to influence the broader direction of the CPD programme, all participants appreciated opportunities to debate CPD provision. Steering Group members offered many examples of 'new learning' which had emerged as a consequence of working alongside other stakeholders. NQTs were also positive regarding the content, activities and the delivery of the programme, in particular 'open discussion' as one delivery strategy. They were also positive concerning their engagement in the programme. Given that there is no mentoring arranagement in Saudi schools the programme became a place for teachers to talk and to share their experience. Many elements of the programme were taken into the classroom by the NQTs. The study conceptualizes CPD as 'collective authorship'. Serving teacher professional development needs the full engagement of all stakeholders to have a positive effect in Saudi. However, there is much to be learned concerning the'collective authorship' of CPD programmes and the need for a coordinated collaboration between a range of stakeholders with a common interest in new teacher induction and professional development. Close attention needs to be paid to time and resources when developing and implementing such CPD programmes in the future. Suggestions for further research into and development of Saudi CPD are provided.

This study sets to investigate the use of self-evaluation mechanisms and processes as a device for improving quality in higher education. The study presents a single, longitudinal case study of a private university in the Dominican Republic and provides an account of how two self-evaluation processes helped in shaping a culture of self-reflection, quality awareness and actually improved some aspects of institutional performance. Most existing studies self-evaluations to date are grounded in the context of developed nations. This study therefore, aims to contribute to the existing literature on self-evaluation in higher education by exploring the experience of a private university in a developing nation. The findings show that the self-evaluation processes acted as triggers of positive change and improved the quality of a number of institutional functions as well as helped develop an evaluation culture in the university. The study recommends a model for Self-evaluation Quality Culture as well as a framework for successful self-evaluation as a trigger of positive change.

This thesis investigates a specific instance of mentoring offered to final year HE design students in order to propose that ‘readiness for mentoring’ is a theory worthy of expansion and that this expansion can add to the field of knowledge on mentoring. The Design Buddy mentoring scheme, created by the South West Design Forum, uses local creative arts business volunteers as mentors who are paired with design students by course tutors. It is important to note that this thesis does not offer a critique of the Design Buddy scheme, but rather uses in-depth interviews with four participating students to interrogate their expectations and experiences of career mentoring. In order to understand how the individual combines their expectations for the future with past experiences to develop an idea of career, the literature on career identity construction was interrogated. The literature and the findings of this thesis support the concept, that in shaping a career identity, the career holder also develops a parallel readiness for experiencing career events. The concept of readiness was developed further, in relation to creative arts career mentoring, specifically in order to understand how the experiences and expectations of the individual student impacted on mentoring. A qualitative research instrument, using semi-structured interviews and hand drawn concept mapping was deployed to enable a fluid and creative way of capturing students’ views of career and of mentoring. An interpretative paradigm, able to accommodate multiple and divergent results, was systematically applied to code all the interview data. The aspiration of the research design was to bridge the tension between empiricist and interpretive approaches to research. The findings of the thesis established several preconditions that contribute positively to an individual’s readiness for mentoring. In brief, these preconditions address the appropriateness of the timing of mentoring and of the mentor, the need for realistic expectations on the part of the student and the student’s previous experiences of mentoring as well as the level of their vocational connection. These preconditions are presented within a new mentoring readiness framework, designed as a qualitative tool, against which to measure a protégé’s readiness for mentoring. Although these preconditions for mentoring evolved out of the unique circumstances surrounding creative arts students, it is proposed that the mentoring readiness tool is open to wider testing. Used more broadly the tool could enable an extension of knowledge in mentoring research projects or the design of mentoring schemes within other disciplines. More importantly, it may also give a means of assessing individual readiness so that a potential protégé can be given strategic and directed support to make the most of mentoring as a career intervention.

This research explored the relationship between lecturers’ conceptions of transferability of learning and the influence of this on their teaching practice. The central proposition was that if transferability of learning lies at the heart of teaching, then lecturers should have specific conceptions of transfer which underpin and feature in their teaching. The research was a qualitative study comparing the teaching of two different courses in similar subject areas at one university. One course had a professional vocational orientation and the other was a more generic degree programme. The main methods of investigation were semi – structured interviews, observations and focus groups. Data were analysed using a variety of processes but focusing particularly on exploring variations and internal relationships common to phenomenographical techniques. A matrix framework was produced, locating lecturers’ conceptions of teaching for transfer with observations of their practice. One of the main findings was that lecturers did hold conceptions of teaching for transfer and there was a marked difference between those held by psychology lecturers and those by social work lecturers. Secondly there was some evidence that these conceptions did influence teaching practice and that transfer techniques occurred most frequently when teachers drew on experience whether their own or those of students. These findings build upon and extend previous research associated with conceptions of learning and teaching by adding the dimension of ‘focus on transfer’. The greater the focus on transfer and this was particularly so with the social work lecturers who used more of the teaching for transfer techniques than the psychology lecturers, the more able students were to ‘see the point’ and apply their learning. Being explicit with students about why any aspect of the curriculum was relevant and how it could be applied, facilitated the learning transfer process.

No description available.

This PhD thesis is as investigation into the positionings, voices and experiences of students who use English for their postgraduate studies in the fields of business and English language teaching, in particular relation to their writing practices. Positioning this research as informing the English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and Global Englishes fields of enquiry, emergentism, complexity theory, performativity and integrationism are drawn on in order to assist with the interpretation and characterisation of the accounts of English offered by participants in the study, and to help understand what ‘language’ is in relation to ELF research. Further to these conceptual aims, English-as-a-medium-of-instruction programmes are investigated and discussed in order to understand how recent shifts in higher education are impacting on the lives and educations of students studying in the medium of English. The students’ accounts of their experiences offer insights into how aspects of educational and ecological practices impact on the linguistic realities of those studying on EMI programmes in these regions. Utilising semi-structured interviews and notes from the field, the findings indicate a high degree of diversity among student ‘communities’, with various backgrounds, orientations, experiences and future trajectories making variation an inherent characteristic of these groups and classrooms. The diversity found among and between contexts emphasises the primacy of temporal dimensions of language practices, as opposed to rigid geographical, disciplinary or cultural borders. Also, instances of students’ communicative engagements formed important parts of their conceptualisations of English (and language), but did not appear to align with current native / non-native dichotomies that are often prioritised in the field, as these linguistic landscapes are clearly more complex than can be accounted for by simple dichotomies. Regarding writing, the findings suggest that the proliferation of static notions of ‘academic style’ and ‘formal register’ as a priori properties of English academic writing can create a feeling of distance from the meaning making practices of formal written English. This, exacerbated by reported vocabulary shortages and a perceived need to repeatedly duplicate the same forms and structures in academic essays, presents a barrier to understanding what ‘academic writing’ does, who does it, and why they do it. It also seems evident that basing normative judgements of students’ writing on intrinsically sociocultural constructs of communication, which register, formality and aspects of structure inherently are, reifies aspects of writing that are more fluid in nature, thereby reinforcing a cognitive gap between how language works and how students are taught to communicate. This also presupposes a reader, or superaddressee, who is ‘western’, or, at least, who is an advocate of ‘western’ writing cultures. Such reifications could result from direct instruction or students’ own reactions to feedback (or, more likely, a combination of both), but either way they reinforce ideas of expertise and asymmetry between teachers and students, and between experts and novices, which results in feelings of frustration among some students. The findings support current moves in the field towards more critical and holistic forms of instruction and assessment that treat written language as a socially negotiated meaning making process, rather than as an endlessly reproduced body of pre-ordained parts that form a coherent static system of reference. Similarly, this research maintains that approaches to enquiry in Global Englishes and ELF can benefit from descriptivist engagement with people’s motivations, experiences, ideas and communicative behaviours when attempting to account for global linguacultural landscapes. Finally, it is proposed that those involved in EMI programmes might address potential issues in their contexts, particularly upon reflection on intersections between language and content, where uncritical treatment of language can result in difficulties for content instruction and assessment, and issues to student experience more generally.

No description available.

The use of e-learning in teaching and learning is seen as an alternative to traditional learning and produces knowledge through a variety of academic activities in many Higher Education institutions. The importance of this research arises from the need to provide a blueprint for future strategic developments in e-learning in Saudi universities, and thus improve policy and practice for the betterment of student learning. The present study aims to determine the impact of wiki technology on learning in the subject of biology among Al-Baha University (ABU) students through their interactions with each other. The study was divided into three stages: before, during and after the use of the wiki. Collaborative learning and constructivist theory was applied in this study in relation to the learning environment for the participants and used the wiki platform as a learning tool (http://wikibaha.wikispaces.com). The strategy of the current study was based on the application of the case study as a research approach. The study focused on individuals and teams at ABU and sought to investigate the students‘ outcomes: their perceptions and knowledge about wiki, the extent of acquiring e-learning skills, achieving biological knowledge, and their attitudes towards the wiki. These five elements were measured through five different instruments. Mixed methods approaches were used to triangulate the results of the study and collect both quantitative and qualitative data from students. The qualitative and quantitative data were collected by using two types of questionnaire and weekly tests for the quantitative data, and by using interviews and e-comments to collect the qualitative data. The data in its entirety was analysed ‗en masse‘ using a thematic framework. In order to integrate two different types of data in one analytical approach, the researcher qualitised the quantitative data. This process of ‗qualitising‘ followed the technique of Tashakorri and Teddlie (1998). Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2010), state that the term qualitising refers to the process of converting quantitative data that can be analysed qualitatively. Therefore, quantitative data in research questions 2, 3 and 4 were firstly analysed using the SPSS programme, before being subjected to qualitative analysis. The finding of the study showed that students had positive attitudes and perceptions toward the wiki; these perceptions and attitudes varied from one student to another because of the different experiences using the wiki. The findings also revealed that the use of the wiki helped students to acquire e-learning skills through the use of the Internet and other electronic sources. With respect to students‘ achievement of biological knowledge, the results revealed that the majority of students believed that the written and readable information on wiki pages had a major impact on improving their knowledge of biology. This reflects that students tended to learn biology using wiki pages more than by using the traditional learning method of a ‗lecture‘. Finally, the study aims to provide evidence that can help to implement change to improve conditions and learning opportunities in Saudi Arabian universities.